A mountain of deceit: introducing Nepal’s Ministry of Tourism

May 28, 2014 Opinion and advice climbing fatalities, climbing permits, commercial mountaineering, everest, everest base camp, media sensationalism, mountain environment, mountain flights, nepal, sherpas, waste management 6 Comments

The government of Nepal made a number of announcements about mountaineering on Everest before and during the Spring 2014 season, which received widespread media attention. Here I examine some of the announcements and assess how successfully the government met their intentions.

Lhotse 2014: The world’s most expensive Everest Base Camp trek

May 22, 2014 Trip reports 8000m peaks, altitude junkies, climbing fatalities, commercial mountaineering, dorje sherpa, edita, everest, everest base camp, ian cartwright, lhotse, margaret watroba, media sensationalism, mountain flights, nepal, phil crampton, puja, russell brice, sherpas

The story of the Altitude Junkies 2014 Everest and Lhotse expedition. I was excited to be attempting 8516m Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain in the world which stands across the South Col from Everest. Even if I didn’t reach the summit I would surely reach Camp 2 at least, as I had on every previous occasion.

The Sherpa sacrifice

April 20, 2014 Expedition dispatches altitude junkies, climbing fatalities, dorje sherpa, everest, everest base camp, howard somervell, lhotse, media sensationalism, nanga parbat, nepal, phil crampton, sherpas 15 Comments

I don’t know whether this is going to post successfully, as we have been without meaningful internet communications since we arrived at Everest Base Camp over a week ago. I have wandered down to Gorak Shep in search of 3G

A briefing at the Ministry

April 2, 2014 Expedition dispatches lhotse, media sensationalism, mountain environment, nepal, phil crampton 2 Comments

A new joke is doing the rounds in Kathmandu. How many Nepalese Ministry of Tourism officials does it take to change a light bulb? Two. One to change the bulb and the other to issue a press release to the

South Peak: my attempt on Lhotse

March 26, 2014 Expedition dispatches 8000m peaks, altitude junkies, chance, everest, everest base camp, first ascents, himalayas, ian cartwright, island peak, jerzy kukuczka, krzysztof wielicki, lhotse, media sensationalism, mera peak, nepal, phil crampton, reinhold messner, ricardo cassin, tibet, tomo cesen 8 Comments

Good times are approaching again. On Sunday I leave for Nepal for my fifth 8000m peak expedition, and it’s fair to say I’m just a teeny bit excited. My objective this time is 8516m Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain in the world and the one next to Everest, as I’ve been telling everyone who has asked.

A media guide to Mount Everest

March 12, 2014 Humour commercial mountaineering, everest, media sensationalism, nepal, sherpas, the guardian, tibet, waste management 12 Comments

With the Everest climbing season nearly upon us there will soon be a flurry of articles in the mainstream media. With journalists under pressure to knock together something emotive at short notice by pasting from websites or phoning up random mountaineers for soundbites, I thought I would put together a media guide to help save time.

Don’t be fooled by disaster porn

March 5, 2014 Opinion and advice commercial mountaineering, everest, history of mountaineering, jon krakauer, k2, lincoln hall, media sensationalism, mountain literature, mountaineering disasters, the chomolungma diaries

Since Jon Krakauer’s seminal disaster porn classic Into Thin Air came out in 1997 publishers have flocked to release books about mountaineering disasters, but every time I see a new book like this I can’t help wishing they had never been published. Why? For me there are two reasons.

Everest’s most extraordinary false summit claim

November 20, 2013 Humour aconcagua, alan arnette, argentina, augusto ortega, everest, everest base camp, false summit claims, ladakh, media sensationalism, nepal 14 Comments

Last week the world’s mainstream media were awash with stories about the world’s first dog to climb Mount Everest. It was a heart-warming tale about a cute little doggie who had been rescued from a garbage dump in India and went on to become a pioneering canine mountaineer. But how on earth could it be true?

World firsts are meaningless, personal firsts are profound

September 18, 2013 Opinion and advice adventure travel, alastair humphreys, everest, exploration, media sensationalism, microadventures, sir ranulph fiennes, travel diaries, travel writing 6 Comments

Some people think adventure is dead because most of the world has now been explored, and there aren’t many genuine firsts in exploration still remaining. But is this true, or is it just the meaning of adventure that needs to be redefined?

Snowdon via the Llanberis Path

September 4, 2013 Trip reports britain, chris bonington, hill walking, llanberis path, media sensationalism, microadventures, moel eilio, snowdon, snowdon mountain railway, snowdon ranger path, wales 0 Comment

Good weather was forecast in the Welsh hills last weekend, so I headed up to Snowdonia, where I completed a fine circular walk of Snowdon via the Llanberis Path and the long whale-backed ridge of Moel Eilio. I expected it to be busy, but not as busy as the media would have you believe.